CANADA: Munk takes on mine protesters, defends capitalismby John Spears, The StarApril 28th, 2010Mark Ekepa journeyed from Papua New Guinea to tell the shareholders of Barrick Gold Corp. how police had burned down his house near the Barrick’s Porgera mine. Idolia Bornones travelled from Chile to say that Barrick operations are damaging local glaciers and rivers. But Barrick chairman Peter Munk was unrepentant as he faced the company’s annual meeting.

US: Deaths at West Virginia Mine Raise Issues About Safetyby Ian Urbina and Michael Cooper, New York Times April 6th, 2010Rescue workers began the precarious task Tuesday of removing explosive methane gas from the coal mine where at least 25 miners died the day before. The mine owner’s -- Massey Energy Company -- dismal safety record, along with several recent evacuations of the mine, left federal officials and miners suggesting that Monday’s explosion might have been preventable.

CHINA: Earth-Friendly Elements, Mined Destructivelyby Keith Bradsher, New York TimesDecember 26th, 2009Some of the greenest technologies of the age, from electric cars to efficient light bulbs to very large wind turbines, are made possible by an unusual group of elements called rare earths. Most of these come from China. “In many places, the mining is abused,” said Wang Caifeng, the top rare-earths industry regulator at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China.

US/ECUADOR: New nonprofit uses Web to pressure Chevronby David A. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle November 16th, 2009Retired retail executive Richard Goldman was astonished when he heard about the $27 billion pollution lawsuit against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador. SO he has created a nonprofit group, Ethos Alliance, that will use social-networking tools to spread word of the case and put pressure on Chevron.

UK: Friends of the Earth attacks carbon tradingby Ashley Seager, The Guardian (UK)November 5th, 2009The world's carbon trading markets growing complexity threatens another "sub-prime" style financial crisis that could again destabilise the global economy, campaigners warn. In a new report, Friends of the Earth says that to date "cap and trade" carbon markets have done little to reduce emissions but have been plagued by inefficiency and corruption.

IVORY COAST: Trafigura offers deal to 31,000 Africans over dumped wasteby Frances Gibb, The Times (London)October 17th, 2009British oil trader Trafigura has offered to settle a court case brought by 31,000 Africans who say that they were injured in the largest personal injuries class action mounted in an English court. The action resulted from the dumping of 400 tonnes of waste in the Ivory Coast by an oil tanker, the Probo Koala, in 2006 — one of the worst pollution disasters in recent history.

US: E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspectionby Michael Moss, New York TimesOctober 3rd, 2009Tracing the chain of production of an E. Coli-contaminated hamburger made by Cargill, through interviews and government and corporate records obtained by The New York Times, shows why eating ground beef is still a gamble. Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe.

US: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Sufferingby Charles Duhigg, New York TimesSeptember 12th, 2009Violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily across the nation, an extensive review of water pollution records by The New York Times found. Polluters include small companies, like gas stations, dry cleaners, and shopping malls. They also include large operations, like chemical factories, power plants, sewage treatment centers and one of the biggest zinc smelters, the Horsehead Corporation of Pennsylvania.

ECUADOR: Chevron Offers Evidence in Ecuador Bribery Caseby Reuters, New York Times September 7th, 2009On Monday Chevron said it gave Ecuadorean authorities evidence of a bribery scheme linked to a $27 billion environmental damages lawsuit against the oil company. Last week, the judge hearing the case, Juan Núñez, recused himself. The Amazon Defense Coalition said the recusal did not “change the overwhelming evidence against Chevron.”

FIJI: Fiji Water: Spin the Bottleby Anna Lenzer, Mother JonesAugust 17th, 2009Obama sips it. Paris Hilton loves it. Mary J. Blige won't sing without it. How did a plastic water bottle, imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become the epitome of cool?

UK: Two men and a website mount vendetta against an oil giantby Danny Fortson, Sunday Times (UK)July 19th, 2009In Colchester, Essex, John and Alfred Donovan are compiling perhaps the world's largest dossier on Royal Dutch Shell, at royaldutchshellplc.com. It's an awkward position for Shell, this month crowned by Fortune magazine as the world’s largest company, as trying to shut the website down would draw even more attention to it.

UK: Two men and a website mount vendetta against an oil giantby Danny Fortson, The Sunday Times (UK)July 19th, 2009In Colchester, Essex, John and Alfred Donovan are compiling perhaps the world's largest dossier on Royal Dutch Shell, at royaldutchshellplc.com. It's an awkward position for Shell, this month crowned by Fortune magazine as the world’s largest company, as trying to shut the website down would draw even more attention to it.

ECUADOR: Chevron's Amazon 'fake cleanup' trialUnited Press InternationalJune 25th, 2009A report submitted this week to a court in Ecuador finding dangerous levels of contamination at oil wells Chevron says it cleaned up in the 1990s is expected to reinforce a fraud indictment against two Chevron lawyers in a $27.3 billion environmental lawsuit against the oil company.

NIGERIA: Shell to Pay $15.5 Million to Settle Nigerian Caseby Jad Mouawad, New York TimesJune 8th, 2009Royal Dutch Shell agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle a case accusing it of taking part in human rights abuses in the Niger Delta, a striking sum given it has denied any wrongdoing. Ken Saro-Wiwa, Shell’s most prominent critic at the time in Nigeria, was hanged in 1995 by that country’s military regime after protesting Shell's environmental practices in the oil-rich delta, especially in his native Ogoni region.

INDONESIA: Scramble for coal assets in Indonesiaby Sundeep Tucker and John Aglionby, Financial TimesJune 7th, 2009Some of the world’s largest energy groups are scrambling to acquire coal mining assets in Indonesia as family-run conglomerates consider divestments to raise cash. Peabody Energy, the US coal miner, and Xstrata, the Anglo-Swiss miner, are believed to be among those interested. Industry analysts said Chinese, South Korean, Indian and Middle Eastern companies were also scouring Indonesia for assets.

FINLAND: In Finland, Nuclear Renaissance Runs Into Troubleby James Kanter, New York Times May 28th, 2009As the Obama administration tries to steer America toward cleaner sources of energy, it would do well to consider the cautionary tale of this new-generation nuclear reactor site. The massive power plant under construction on muddy terrain on this Finnish island was supposed to be the showpiece of a nuclear renaissance. But things have not gone as planned.

ECUADOR: In Ecuador, Resentment of an Oil Company Oozesby SIMON ROMERO and CLIFFORD KRAUSS, New York Times May 14th, 2009Texaco, the American oil company that Chevron acquired in 2001, once poured oil waste into pits used decades ago for drilling wells in Ecuador's northeastern jungle. Texaco’s roughnecks are long gone, but black gunk from the pits seeps to the topsoil here and in dozens of other spots. These days the only Chevron employees who visit the former oil fields do so escorted by bodyguards toting guns. They represent one side in a bitter fight that is developing into the world’s largest environmental lawsuit, with $27 billion in potential damages.

WORLD: When Chevron Hires Ex-Reporter to Investigate Pollution, Chevron Looks Goodby Brian Stelter, New York Times May 10th, 2009When Chevron learned that “60 Minutes” was preparing a potentially damaging report about oil company contamination of the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador, it hired a former journalist to produce a mirror image of the report, from the corporation’s point of view. An Ecuadorean judge is expected to rule soon on whether Chevron owes up to $27 billion in damages.